1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of waste management and, more particularly, to identifying banned waste in a municipal solid waste environment.
2. Background of the Invention
Waste management companies provide residential, commercial, and municipal waste management and recycling services for communities and organizations. Customers can range, for example, from single residences to entire towns or companies. Municipalities may contract with a waste management service provider to handle their municipal solid waste (MSW). MSW includes garbage, refuse, and other discarded material that result from residential, commercial, industrial, and community activities.
Commonly, in conjunction with the collection of refuse, a waste management service places waste containers for use at a plurality of customer sites. Waste container types that are utilized by customers are diverse in the industry and include, for example, residential or commercial large-volume metal containers such as dumpsters, roll-off containers, and rolling lift (or tip) carts.
Often, residential or commercial customers put waste other than MSW into a waste container. Such waste can generally be termed “banned waste” that must be disposed of properly in order to comply with local, state and/or federal laws and regulations.
One type of banned waste is referred to as hazardous waste. As used herein, hazardous waste is a waste with properties that make it dangerous or potentially harmful to human health or the environment. The universe of hazardous wastes is large and diverse. Hazardous wastes can be liquids, solids, contained gases, or sludges. They can be the by-products of manufacturing processes or simply discarded commercial products, like cleaning fluids or pesticides.
In regulatory terms, a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous waste is a waste that appears on one of the four hazardous wastes lists (F-list, K-list, P-list, or U-list), or exhibits at least one of four characteristics—ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, or toxicity. Hazardous waste is regulated under the RCRA Subtitle C.
Another type of banned waste referred to as “special waste” can include items such as household hazardous waste, bulky wastes (refrigerators, pieces of furniture, etc.) tires, and used oil. State and local governments regulate both hazardous and special waste to ensure proper transport and disposal. Generally, only properly permitted and regulated companies are authorized to remove and dispose of these types of waste.
Both hazardous and special wastes are also regulated by local and state governments to ensure, for example, that proper transport and disposal procedures are followed. Often, customers co-mingle banned waste with standard MSW. Generally, only properly permitted and regulated companies are authorized to remove and dispose of these types of waste. If a waste carrier picks up these banned waste items, either knowingly or unwittingly, the waste carrier may be violating of one or more operating permits and is subject to various penalties, such as monetary fines and/or suspension of one or more permits.
Currently, the process for identifying banned waste is manual and, therefore, prone to error. If collection vehicle personnel do not visually detect banned waste at the customer site, it can be inadvertently loaded onto the collection vehicle. The banned waste is then later identified and removed at a transfer station or landfill. As a consequence, the waste company assumes the risk and is responsible for the proper disposal and associated costs for the banned waste. The waste company may not be able to pass these costs to the originating customer, because it is often impossible to identify the customer from which the banned waste was collected. However, banned waste sometimes also goes undetected throughout the entire collection, transport, and disposal process. This creates personnel safety implications, and the likelihood that the waste will end up in a landfill, which may eventually cause damage to the environment.
Therefore, we have determined that there exists a need to automatically identify banned waste during the MSW collection process. This would advantageously prevent banned waste from entering the MSW stream, and eliminate problems associated with subsequent disposal of this type of material.